CES 2018: Whirlpool smart microwave can accept voice commands

Voice commands make sense in the kitchen. The technology lets you listen to commands on your smart speaker and, if your hands are full, control devices connected to the internet in turn. But do you really need hands-free control of your microwave? Whirlpool thinks so.

The company's Wi-Fi Smart Over-the-Range Microwave Oven will work with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa starting in spring 2018, the company announced Monday at CES in Las Vegas. This means you can control your microwave using the built-in assistant, sending commands to your smart speaker.

The $619 (about £455 or AU$790) microwave's voice control feature doesn't work with all functions. You can use voice control to operate your microwave only when using convection bake mode (which means using the heating element and convection fan to cook your food instead of the microwave).

Fortunately, the microwave's other features make up for the limited voice commands. Your microwave's touchscreen control panel keeps track of what you're cooking, so it eventually begins to predict what you're going to do next. For example, if you use a preset cooking mode of oatmeal for breakfast every day, the appliance will have that option front and center on the control panel in the morning.

Whirlpool has also equipped the microwave with a scan-to-cook feature to help you cook meals conveniently. You scan the frozen food's barcode using the Whirlpool mobile app, and the app will send the heating direction, temperature and cooking time settings to the microwave using Wi-Fi.

feature
You can start your microwave from the Whirlpool app
With the Yummly Recipe app, so you can choose a recipe and have cooking instructions sent directly to the microwave
Multi-step cooking function lets you choose different cooking modes to prepare a dish
1.9 cubic feet of cooking space
Open with the pocket hand located on the side of the microwave door